In my current position as head chef, I like to “give back to the industry” by offering work experience to chefs, young and old. Students and mature learners alike. And one of the questions I get asked is “What are the best knife sets to get?”
So I thought I should write down my personal view on the tools of our trade.
There are several great brands out there. From a classic Sabatier from France to the hand crafted, British made blades. Knives are personal, individual and there is no “One size fits all” system. For me, I love a wooden handle. I tried using Global knives but it felt weird in my hand. Also I don’t like the nylon/plastic handled knives. These always feel cheap. Maybe they just remind me of when I used to teach at college and the students would be issued with some useless, unbranded, cheap training knife. What’s the point of that eh? Poor knives slow chefs down and that’s something we don’t need. My day to day knife brand is Victorinox, Rosewood handles. They tend to suit my budget and the steel is a good quality, hard wearing steel.
I was given a beautiful Japanese “Shun” knife a few years back. This was a thing of beauty. Layers of folded samurai steel with a perfect black wooden handle…. Then a waiter took it as a cake knife for a customer to cut their £2 Mr Kipling, Victoria sponge birthday cake and it was never seen again. I now, don’t like to let my knives out of my sight. This tends to be a chef law standard. Other rules include:

Don’t touch my f***ing knives

Don’t ever touch my f***ing knives

If I catch you using knifes, I’ll f***ing finish ya!

I think you get my point (No pun intended!)

As for knife sets. I recommend NONE! By sets, I’m talking about the 10 piece trainee sets on offer in the Nisbets/Russums catalogues. Most chefs can survive on 3 or 4 knives to complete their day to day tasks. A good paring knife, a solid 8,10 or 12 inch cooks knife, a filleting knife and a boning knife. The last two are interchangeable in my opinion. Find the right knife for you. You may like the heavyweight European blade or lightweight Japanese steel. The choice is totally yours.
Knives should be looked after. I carry a wet stone and a steel. Only I am allowed to sharpen my knives. No other chef should ever try to sharpen another chef’s knife. That’s a bad move. I’m getting upset just thinking about it! Get yourself a good roll, case or box to store them in. Count them in, count them out!
Don’t let yourknives go through the dish washer. This really messes them up. Especially the domestic dishwasher you have at home. I don’t know why or what goes on in there but They will just come out blunt, grey and if they have a wooden handle, this will be ruined.
In time, you’ll start to realise which knives you’ll like. I’d always suggest seeing it in real life first. Looking at something online is a world away from filleting 5 stone of Sea Bass with it.
A good quality knife will last you your entire career. That’s a fact.
Take a look at some of the links below. These are pretty cool. The video on knife sharpening goes on a bit, but highlights the need for a good quality wet stone.

MY GEAR:
​Here are my most used knives at work.

Sabatier 8" over 20 years old

Victorinox Santuko and Filleting knives (Both currently missing in action)

My Japanese knife (3rd one down) which is well over 25 years old!! Bonkers eh? Only paid around a tenner for it too!!!

Are we superstitious? Is there actually a chef code. As a chef do you believe in an all mighty Chef deity, who oversees your daily grind?

This blog post was inspired by a conversation in my local chef forum. It was one of those moments where I realised that I wasn’t alone in what I thought were my own idiosyncrasies. So here are a few highlights:

Commandment one

Thou shalt always double tap your knife the chopping board or work surface before commencing with any slicing, filleting or chopping duties. This ensures the knife still works and makes the chef gods happy.

Commandment two

Thou shalt never utter the words “I think it’ll be nice and quiet tonight” before the end of service. This is ALWAYS a trigger phrase for the chef overlords to strike you down!

Commandment three

Never look at the clock on the wall. Service is not over!

Commandment four

Thou shalt not touch another chef’s knives, pen, or tools. This will only create tension and you can legally be assassinated by ninjas.

Commandment five

Never ever tip away the last portion of sauce béarnaise before the end of service. It doesn’t matter how sure you are. Even if you’ve sent out the last table’s meal. They will ask for a splash more.

Commandment six

This one is not really a superstition, but important all the same. ALWAYS use a dry tea-towel. Assume everything is hot.

Commandment seven

On the subject of tea towels. How many should be tucked into your apron? Personally, I am a one cloth chef. But I know some who appear to be living out Hawaiian hula skirt fantasies. Going with three or even four tucked in there.

Commandment eight

Never tell your fellow chefs, “I’ll just stay for one drink, I’ve got to get home”, this is basically provoking a challenge. You’ll soon be tip toeing into your house at 3am.

Commandment nine

Always have you chef’s back. If you know they got plastered with you last night, the least you can do for the lightweight is help them with a little of their Mis En Place. Especially if they have had the decency to turn up.

Commandment ten

Thou shalt not be a dick (not gender specific)

There are several blogs and posts which cover the “chef code”. My own view is that number 10 here covers it all. You don’t have to search too hard to find online chef Facebook group pages and forums which are filled with opinions, take-downs, negativity and general childishness. The modern term is “trolling” I guess. We, as chefs have enough to deal with without taking swipes at each other. There are some social media pages where I would never post photos of my work. No matter how proud I am of it. I know some jumped up Michelin Guide wannabe will be waiting to post a comment about preferred presentation technique. Or even suggest adding wild garlic (a joke I never really understood on chef’s arse FB page).I love being a chef. I love the history of it. I love the simplicity and the complexity. But it is just food at the end of the day. No double tapping of the knife or pre service cigarette ritual will make any difference. Our knowledge is our power. It does take a certain type of person to stick it out as a chef. I’ll be 43 later this month and I am one of the last remaining chefs from the group I graduated with back in 1994. The others are either bus drivers, dead or somewhere in between. I’ve said before that I am not sure how many years I have left on the front line so-to-speak. But I will never stop cooking*.

Brian Powlett

Hi, Welcome to my blog. I have been writing for a few years now. I like to think that I have improved slightly over that time. ​I write mainly about chef issues.​For blogs which are more about food etc, click on the IDEAS AND RECIPES option at the top of the page.​Although, please read my posts here too.It's all good clean fun.